Research in the practice

Our research grows out of daily practice. The patients of the practice are the study population, the data come from the regular check-up, and the questions are those we meet at the chair. All patients consent at intake to the anonymised use of their data for research and teaching.

Serial intraoral scanning

Since 2018 we scan every patient at each check-up and compare the scans over time. The comparison detects tooth wear, chipping, tooth movement and erosion at a precision of 0.05 mm, months before they are visible to the eye. The cohort now counts 562 patients, the longest span is seven years. The method, the thresholds we use and illustrative cases are described in an article accepted by the International Journal of Computerized Dentistry (Marinescu C, Pogany L, 2026, in press).

Salivary aMMP-8 and systemic markers after professional prophylaxis

Active matrix metalloproteinase-8 (aMMP-8) in the mouth rinse is a marker of periodontal tissue breakdown. It can be measured chair-side in a few minutes. Together with Dr. Nike Arnstadt (Praxis für Integrative Medizin, Munich) and our hygienist Tünde Sandor, RDH, we looked at how aMMP-8, salivary pH and flow, and blood markers (hs-CRP, Omega-3 Index, vitamin D, GDF-15, HbA1c) behave after professional oral prophylaxis in routine practice. The retrospective pilot in 14 patients showed that the measurements fit into a normal recall visit; it also showed the limits of a small sample without a control group. We are therefore preparing a prospective cohort study: recall patients of the practice are followed over 18 months with the same oral and blood panel, taken at each check-up. The questions are how closely oral and systemic inflammation markers move together, whether periodontal findings point to undetected metabolic disease, and what the oral microbiome adds. The protocol is written so that a second site can run it in parallel. The ethics application is in preparation. Patients who wish to take part can tell us at their next recall.

Saliva collection standardisation

Saliva is easy to collect and hard to collect consistently. Time of day, food, brushing and the collection method all change the result. We have written a standard operating procedure for saliva collection so that oral markers can be compared between visits, clinics and studies. It is used in our prospective study and is available to colleagues on request.

Praxiom Life 2.0

The markers we measure are of little use if they are seen only once. Praxiom Life 2.0 is an app platform founded by Dr. Marinescu in which patients keep their oral and systemic markers, wearable data and lab reports together and follow them over time. It is not a medical device and does not replace clinical diagnosis. The composite score it calculates is currently being validated. More at praxiom.life.

Selected references
  • Luthra S, et al. Treatment of periodontitis and C-reactive protein: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Clin Periodontol 2023.
  • Sorsa T, et al. Active MMP-8 (aMMP-8) as a grading and staging biomarker in the periodontitis classification. Diagnostics 2020.
  • Li X, et al. Maladaptive innate immune training of myelopoiesis links inflammatory comorbidities. Cell 2022.